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Why Boredom Is So Powerful in Your Life
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Boredom is unused potential
Boredom is a disconnection to everything we can offer the world and vice versa. It's not influenced by external simulation, it's actually an indicator of how you engage with the world.
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Boredom is a social disease
Ages ago, when people were busy trying to survive, boredom wasn’t a choice. They spent all their time securing food or shelter.
We are now overstimulated — easy access to infinite entertainment options is feeding boredom rather than discouraging it.
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Embracing busyness to escape boredom
People embrace busyness because they are having a hard time being alone and enjoying it.
Being busy is a tricky form of entertainment however — we don’t feel the boredom, but it isn’t fun either.
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Boredom and addictions
Boredom is responsible for increased risk of overeating, gambling, alcohol, drug abuse.
Individuals with high boredom-proneness are more likely to suffer from anxiety, OCD depression.
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3 kinds of boredom
- A form of anxiety. We search for external antidote to boredom: Netflix, a device, company to rescue us.
- Rooted in fear. We are afraid of being alone with ourselves and paying attention to who we are.
- The realization that what really makes us feel bored is our thoughts, not reality itself - the world is predictable, our thoughts about it are repetitive.
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Embracing boredom as a positive force
- Meditate: Once you stop resisting boredom, it’s no longer threatening;
- Boredom feeds creativity: Mind wandering invites creativity.
- Avoid technology: Entertainment snacks will make you crave for more.
- Recover the joy in performing mundane tasks: Recovering the pleasure of performing small duties builds a sense of pride and achievement.
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SIMILAR ARTICLES & IDEAS:
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Boredom: Our Old Friend
In most of the ancient literature and philosophy, boredom is considered a personal, social and moral weakness.
Philosophers talk about boredom as proof that life is essentially meaningless,...
The Neutral Signal With Many Outcomes
Boredom is a signal to your body that the current activity is not meaningful and we should be doing something else, or be somewhere else. Many recent studies have associated boredom with the urge to flaunt social distancing rules and quarantine regulations.
Boredom by itself is a neutral signal but can affect a person in varied ways depending on his life situation and the current environment.
Boredom Is Like Pain
Boredom by itself does not feel great, but just like pain, it is a body’s emotional call to action. It nudges us to look for an alternate set of behaviours and try to add more significance to our activities.
We normally try to balance paying attention and finding meaning, wanting to do something but not wanting to do anything in particular.
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Go With The ‘Flow’
Flow is the satisfying feeling of absorption we get when we’re wholly focused on an enjoyable, open-ended activity, of which we are in control but which stretches our abilities...
Better Employing Idle Time
- Revisit past experiences, enjoy or reevaluate them.
- Rethink future plans.
- Be fully present in the moment.
- Look around and notice new details to better familiarize yourself with your environment and increase your sense of belonging.
- Challenge yourself to be still and see it as a form of adventurous living
- Do things light on engagement to help the mind to disengage from purposeful thought and wander.
Embrace Idleness
While boredom signifies a lack of stimulus, pauses in engagement can be of great value. Being able to appreciate this means you won’t get bored and will be able to find things of interest to think or find contentment in simply being.
Instead of trying to monetize or avoid idle time, use it to develop inner resources, such as curiosity, playfulness, imagination, perseverance and agency. From that all sorts of fulfilling activities can emerge.
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The Importance Of Boredom
It drives us to engage in activities that we find more meaningful than those at hand. Without it, we’d be perpetually excited by everything.
Research shows that people who are bored...
Focus And The Brain
When we’re consciously doing things we’re using the “executive attention network, ” the parts of the brain that control and inhibit our attention. The attention network makes it possible for us to relate directly to the world presently around us.
By contrast, when our minds wander, we activate the brain’s “default mode network, ” which is the brain “at rest”; not focused on an external, goal-oriented task. In this mode, we still tap about 95% of the energy we use when our brains are engaged in focused thinking.
Types Of Daydreaming
- Poor attention control: when people with poor attention control drift into daydreaming. These people are anxious, easily distracted, and have difficulty concentrating, even on their daydreams.
- Guilty-dysphoric: when our thoughts drift to unproductive and negative places. We berate ourselves for perceived mistakes or flaws and feel emotions like guilt, anxiety, and anger.
- Positive-constructive: when our thoughts veer toward the imaginative; it reflects our drive to explore ideas and feelings, plan, and problem-solve.